[…] now is a great moment to engage with some of the work in media studies, STS, and the history of technology that has trained a critical eye on the history of the Internet and the way in which it actually functions. Try to look beyond the popular press hagiographies and instead consider the works that have never bought into the popular myths that frame the Internet as an inherently benevolent force. Unfortunately, we can say many things about our present technological impasse – but we can’t say that we weren’t warned.

I refuse to accept that the only good response to an imperfect technology is to abandon it. We need more specific criticisms than the ever-present feeling that „’something’s not right.“ What thing? Developing a political agenda to remake, improve, or forbid technologies requires some sort of rubric: how can I judge what I’m using? What are the deleterious impacts? How are they specific to these media and this time? Which effects are caused by the technologies and which are enabled by the technologies and which just happen to occur through the technologies? What are the ethics? What are the mechanics? What is the baseline?